![Rodd Rathjen](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNThmMjcwOGEtODcxNy00Mzk3LWJjOWEtMzFjMzFiZjdiMDA4XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTc4MzI2NQ@@._V1_QL75_UY207_CR15,0,140,207_.jpg)
![Rodd Rathjen](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNThmMjcwOGEtODcxNy00Mzk3LWJjOWEtMzFjMzFiZjdiMDA4XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTc4MzI2NQ@@._V1_QL75_UY207_CR15,0,140,207_.jpg)
The sobering statistic that closes Rodd Rathjen’s impressive debut “Buoyancy,” recently named Australia’s submission in the Oscars’ International Feature category, informs us that currently around 200,000 boys and men are believed to be essentially enslaved to the Thai fishing industry. Many of them have, like Rathjen’s teenage lead character, been trafficked away from home, lured by the false promise of better prospects before being tricked into a hell-or-high-water servitude from which there is no escape. That number is staggering, and that Rathjen was inspired by the accounts of real-life survivors gives the film its raw authenticity, forceful pacing and moral clarity. But this macro-mosaic effect also contributes to a certain blankness in terms of the more intimate character drama that should pump blood and emotion through the film’s veins, as though .
Here, that’s 14-year-old Chakra, who dreams of leaving his hardscrabble rice-farming life in rural Cambodia.
Here, that’s 14-year-old Chakra, who dreams of leaving his hardscrabble rice-farming life in rural Cambodia.
- 12/10/2019
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
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